Life Matters - Separate Stories Podcast

Your brother and sister-in-law have a very laid back parenting style and although your niece and nephew are lovely they get away with murder. Your two children idolise their older cousins but you and your husband are left to supervise and control every interaction. How do you hand back the reins and tactfully tell the parents to step it up?

The saying goes that a true friend, is for life. But what happens when you have a disagreement or a falling out with a close friend? How far do you go to restore and maintain that relationship? We hear your stories of the ups and downs in your relationships with close friends.

Saving the Great Barrier Reef can seem like a herculean task and it's something that can only happen if we're able to solve the global climate crisis. But ecologists say that restoring coastal wetlands can do a lot to give the reef the best chance of surviving, and landowners in Queensland are taking it into their own hands to make that happen, including third generation cane-farmer Len Parisi.

Objects we hold close to our hearts take on their own meaning, regardless of what form or shape they are. Monique Kurdian's precious object is small enough to fit in the palm of her hand - she calls this story 'The Fire Horse'.

When menopause hit Alison Daddo, the severity of her symptoms caught her completely unawares. She became exhausted, depressed and her relationship hit rock bottom. But, with the right support, Alison says she got through it, and came out the other end "awakened". She is now healthier, happier, able to "not give a crap" about the small things and better able to care for herself. Life Matters discusses what could make menopause a positive and empowering experience for you.

During lockdowns, did your diet suffer at all? More takeaway? Sugary drinks, more junk food? This was a common story and the effects on our mental health are now starting to be understood.

As a young boy Ash Magic struggled to fit in and focus at school, whilst living with ADHD and anxiety. As an 11 year old Ash saw a street performer doing magic tricks in Pitt Street Mall and his interest in magic was sparked. Now he has more than nine million followers on Tik Tok and role-models positivity while teaching magic tricks to his followers.

Play based learning is considered a must for young children, and the Victorian and NSW governments have committed to universal access for pre-school aged kids. We look at why kids need play, the research that has made it the high watermark for education, and the changes needed to make more play happen.

Lifelong quizzer Brydon Coverdale – known by many for his TV quiz master persona, 'the shark' – has made trivia his career. His book, The Quiz Masters, charts Australia’s obsession with game shows and the incredible strategies of those who have won big.

Songbirds is a program of music, art and theatre taken into prisons across NSW by the Community Restorative Centre. The director, Murray Cook, is a biologist and a musician who has played with Midnight Oil, Mixed Relations and Mental as Anything, Leah Purcell and the Warumpi band, among others. Murray uses his skills as a musician and his experiences in bands to build bridges between inmates, helping them find a way to express their feelings without hurting anyone. Now, Murray also delivers this program at the Ozanam Learning Centre in Woolloomooloo in Sydney.

Next month jobseekers will face a big change in the way they interact with the services that help them into work. Under the "Workforce Australia" scheme, jobseekers will have to 'earn' 100 points a month across various tasks in order to keep being eligible for unemployment benefits, while they search. There's been criticism of the new program already, which could impact up to 800,000 Australians, many of whom will be self managing, online.

The NSW Government has announced plans to scrap the much-maligned stamp duty on property sales and replace it with an annual land tax. There are hopes it will ease the housing crisis, but whether it will reduce house prices is less certain.

Beth wrote to say she had friends from overseas staying and they were vegan. One of the unwritten rules of hospitality is that as host, you do all you can to please your guest. Yet this situation, she feels, was completely one-sided, the vegan side, and that if the friend visited them overseas they would not be offering bacon and eggs for breakfast and steak for dinner. So how, in a situation such as this, should the host-guest relationship be handled?

hy do some LGBTQ+ people come out later in life? Whether you knew the whole time or are making a new discovery in middle age, coming to queerness as an older person can come with a unique set of joys and challenges. We hear your stories, and look at how to date, explore sex, talk about it with friends and family and embrace your authentic self.

Psychologists are reporting that more and more women in their 40s and 50s are experiencing a "mid life crisis", deciding to make drastic changes to their relationships and careers. Why are women experiencing this period differently to generations past and how can they be supported through this transition?

The objects that are precious in your life often have a connection with family history. For Jennifer Wright the little harp brings stories of ancestors, as well as parallels with events going on in the world right now.

When we talk about a gender gap, women are usually the ones at a disadvantage. But, when it comes to almost every non-sex-specific health problem, men die in greater numbers than women and Australian men die, on average, five years earlier than their female counterparts. New research explores what’s behind this mortality gap and what can be down to turn things around.

A town hall meeting. A group of activists. And a message about a dystopian future. That's the premise of Shadow, the debut feature film of acclaimed Australian neurodiverse theatre company Back to Back Theatre, set to premiere in Australia at Sydney Film Festival.

Pie has a long and storied history, from the honeyed pies of ancient Egypt to medieval pies with live frogs and birds. So, why has the humble pie stood the test of time? Food writer and author Alice Zaslavsky delves into the layers of this beloved dish.

While 1 in 6 Australian women have experienced some form of violence at the hands of a current or former partner, for migrant women, than number jumps to 1 in 3, and it's even higher among women on temporary visas. We look at how better understanding the nuances of culture can help combat domestic violence.